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Thug [a cheat]

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So a religious fraternity in India was called. Their patron goddess was Devî or Kâli, wife of Siʹva. The Thugs lived by plunder, to obtain which they never halted at violence or even murder. In some provinces they were called “stranglers” (phansigars), in the Tamil tongue “noosers” (aritulukar), in the Canarese “catgut thieves” (tanti kalleru). They banded together in gangs mounted on horseback, assuming the appearance of merchants; some two or more of these gangs concerted to meet as if by accident at a given town. They then ascertained what rich merchants were about to journey, and either joined the party or lay in wait for it. This being arranged, the victim was duly caught with a lasso, plundered, and strangled. (Hindu, thaga, deceive.)

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Thrift-box
Throgmorton Street (London)
Through-stone (A)
Throw
Throw
Throw Up the Sponge (To)
Throw your Eye on
Throwing an Old Shoe for Luck
Thrums
Thrummy Cap
Thug [a cheat]
Thuggee
Thùig or Tuig (Norse)
Thule
Thumb
Thumb-nail Legacies
Thumbikins or Thumbscrew
Thunder
Thunder (Sons of) [Boanesgēs]
Thunder and Lightning or Tonnant
Thunders of the Vatican